Method of producing textiles



Patented May 12, i936 UNITED -STATES PATENT OFFICE by means ration, New York, N. York No Drawing. I

6 Claims.

I My invention relates'to method of producing textiles and resulting product.

The object of the invention is to'provide woven fabrics containing cotton yarn having substantially less twist than the usual practice requires.

1 for weaving the different particular species of cotton yarn, and to provide a simple, easy and I inexpensive method of producing such yarns and I treating and weaving same.

10 It is already known how to make and weave fibrous textile yarnswith littleor no twist; as disclosed in United States patent to Meyer, No. 1,295,821, granted February 25, 1919. .This patent discloses at length various advantages resulting from fabric made of or containing such yarn, I

and it is therefore to here repeat these advantages at length and the reason therefor. It may be stated, however, that among the advantages are a marked increase in lustre due to a more parallel arrangement of the fibers,

greater loftiness, etc. I Weft yarns with little or no twist have actually been made according to said Meyer invention; fabrics have been successfully woven therefrom and valuable eifects have actually been achieved I in said fabrics, ,but said method of producing the yarn and weaving and treating the fabric as is necessary with that process, is relatively tedious and expensive as compared to my invention; and the resulting fabric is more likely to show defects resulting from mistakes in the proper execution of the different treatments required by said process. According to the commercial practice of the Meyer method, cotton yam with normal twist is treatedto render it more penetrable to an adhesive and it is then impregnated with the adhesive such as starch; then detwisted relying upon the binding or adhesive effect of the starch to give the yarn the necessary tensile strength for subsequent handling and weaving.

' l'he yarn which has been made somewhat stiffer by the adhesive, is then woven, after which the fabric must be given a thorough malting treatment to remove the starch.

, Itwlllthusbeseenthatthenapparatus, time required and handling. of the yarn with these special treatments, result in added cost and trouble in producing the desired fabric and require care in their, execution.

After extensive experiments Ihave discovered the surprising fact that for cotton yarns the same efiects may be achieved in a much simpler, less expensive and lesstroublesome manner. I have discovered that cotton yarns of various lengths 66 ofstaple,canbesuccessfullyspuninadrystate Application January 10,

ts, to Para Fabrics Corpo- Y., a corporation of New 1934, In Germany September with a very substantial reduction in the amount of twist from that recognized as a customary minimum for that particular specie of yarn to give it the necessary strength for use as a weft yarn in weaving;- such yarns being capable of being spun with as little as about one-half of the usual twist or even less; and that-althoughthis incompletely twisted cotton yarn while in the dry state has insufilcient tensile strength for weaving as a weft yarn, it can without difiiculty be given this necessary strength by simply moistening the yarn and weaving it while moist. It was surprising to. find that the mere wetting of this loosely twisted cotton yarn would increase its tensile strength about nine times so that in the wet condition it can be successfully woven as weft yarn. For example, one such loosely twisted cotton yarn-(a Maco yarn of number 40/1 English count, but having about one-half of the usual twist, i. e., about 10 turns per inch)'-which in 20 the dry state showed on the dynamometer a breaking load of only 28 grams, in the moist state (having approximately of moisture by weight), showed a breaking load of 2-15 grams.

The use of mules for ,the spinning operation has been found preferable, but it will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to any particular type of machine for spinning.

It will thus be seenthat according to the above described and preferred manner of practicing my invention, it is merely necessary to cut down or reduce the twisting of the yarn in the spinningoperation, to a point where the desired substantial reduction in twist is obtained, instead of twisting to the otherwise customary extent for that particular specie of cotton yarn. The yarn may then be sent to the weaver in this incom-' pletely twisted state without any special preparatory treatment. In this state the yarn has insufficient strength for weaving; but the weaver simply has to moisten the yarn shortly before weaving, and to an extent which gives it the necessary strength for weaving, and then weave it in this condition In the weaving operation care should be taken to insure that the weft mechanism of the loom operates smoothly so as not to put undue strains upon the loosely woven yarn. v

Itwillthusbeseenthattheprocessisavery simple and inexpensive one, requiring in its preferred practice no additional operations or apparatus from those customarily used in making a yam ready to go to the weaver, and that all theweaverhastodoistomoistentheyarnto g ing; such practice would still come within the broader aspect of my invention.

According to this invention no gluing or starching of the yarn is required, nor the detwisting of the glued or starched threads, and the weaver is not confronted with having to weave a starch or glue impregnated yarn, nor with the subsequent removal of the impregnating medium from the fabric after weaving.

To wet the yarn, the water or moisture may be applied in any suitable '"manner. Preferably some agent for which the yarn has greater a'ifinity, should be added to the water, to cause the water or moisture to more quickly and thoroughly impregnate the yarn. Such agents are well known as wetting agents, and one such agent which has been found very satisfactory for the purpose is sulphonated oil. Also preferably some hygroscopic substance should be added to the water in order 0 prevent premature drying of the yarns befo J they have been woven. Such substances are well known, and it has been found, for example, that glycerine is quite satisfactory for this purpose. Various ways of moistening or wetting yarns are wellknown, and I do not wish to be limited to any particular. method. For example, the yarn may be immersed in water while on the bobbins, preferably by placing them in a chamber which is evacuated to insure better penetration of the water into the fibres and then admitting the water; or in some cases it-may be sufficient to keep the spools of yarn wrapped in wet cloths for a sufiicierit period of time to cause the yarns to take up the necessary moisture. The moistening may be accomplished by steaming. In whatever manner moisturev is applied to the yarn, those skilledin the art can readily ascertain, under'any particular method, when the loosely woven yarn has been sufllciently wetted to acquire the necessary tensile strength for weaving, by simply testing a piece of the yarn. In this way operators will quickly learn to what extent the yarn of each'particular construction should be subjected to the wetting operation of the character used.

It appears that the water causes the individual loosely twisted fibres of the yarn to swell and remain so while wet, thus causing the fibres to lie more closely together due to the adhesive force by capillary action, the yarn becoming more denseso to speak, and thus increasing the tensile strength.

The wetting of weft yarns for weaving is well known as wet weaving, but in such cases the wetting was of yarns already having the necessary strength for weaving, and it was done for entirely difierent purposes; for example, a normally twisted or even a highly twisted yam has been moistened for fine weaving, such for example as in the weaving of muslins; also coarse and/or relatively stiflf or coated or impregnated yarns, have sometimes been moistened to make them more flexible so as to assist in the smoothness of the weaving. In such cases the moistening of the yarn, already having the necessary normally twisted yarns have been woven wet for the purpose of avoiding flufilng, i. e., to cause the filaments or lint to lie close to the yarn so as to reduce the fuzzy appearance of the fabric. But obviously such practices are not concerned with my invention which deals with giving to the highly desirable but weak, incompletely or loosely twisted cotton yarns, the large increase in strength required for weaving; thus rendering them available for weaving without depending upon an adhesive.

When I refer herein to yarns having a-substantial reduction in twist, or like expressions of comparison, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the comparison is between the cotton yarn of this invention and the customarily twisted cotton yarn, where eachyarn is spun from the same specie andJength of fibre and is of the same size, 1. e., when each is made from the same roving; for yarns made of different 35 species and/or lengths of fibre require different twists. As fully pointed out in the specification of the said Meyer patent, except for a few special yarns spun for special purposes where an increased twist is desired, it has been the aim ,of 30 spinners to spin yarns of any particular specie with as little twist as has been found requisite to the strength of the yarn for the successful handling and weaving of the same, and the minimum amount of twist requisite for the different yarns a has been rather definitely determined by usage and practice; so much so that there are established rules and tables for the same. It will therefore be readily understood what is meant by a cotton yarn having a substantial reduction 40 from the usual or customary twist; but in order to further facilitate those skilled in the art in understanding what yarns of the character to which this invention is applicable, I claim as coming under the invention with respect to the 45 maximum degree of twist of said yarn; I definev the term substantial reduction from the usual or customary twist, for the purpose of this invention, as meaning at least about a 30% reduction from the usual or customary twist for each 60 such yarn. Also those skilled in the art will know that where I refer herein to the yarn as having or as not having the necessary strength for weaving, I mean weaving in practical commercial power driven looms.

This application is a continuation in part of my copending application Serial No. 561,999, filed September 9, 1931.

While I have described my invention in detail according to the preferred manner of carrying 60 out my process, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art, after understanding my invention,

necessary strength for such weaving by moistening it .to that extent and then weaving the yarn while moist to said extent.

2. The method of producing woven textile fabric containing cotton yarn having a substantial reduction from the usual twist, which comprises taking such a yarn which has insufficient strength for the weaving of such fabric and giving it the necessary strength for such weaving by swelling the fibres to cause them to lie more closely together to give them said degree of strength and then weaving the yarn while the fibres are thus swollen.

3. The method of producing woven textile fabric which comprises taking weft cotton yarn having insuflicient twist to give it the necessary strength for the weaving of such fabric, giving said yarn the necessary strength for such weaving by moistening it to that extent and then weaving the yarn while moist to said extent.

4. The method of producing woven textile fab-' ric containing cotton yarn having a substantial reduction from the usual twist, which comprises spinning sucha yarn, then giving it the necessary strength for the weaving of such fabric by moistening it to that extent and weaving said yarn while moist to said exten 5. The method of producing woven textile fabric which comprises spinning weft cotton yarn with insufficient twist to give it the necessary strength for the weaving of such fabric, then giving the yarn the necessary strength for such weaving by moistening it to that extent and weaving the yarn while moist to said extent.

6. The method of producing weft cotton yarn for woven fabrics which comprises spinning said yarn with insuiiicient twist to give it the necessary strength. for weaving, and giving the yarn the necessary strength for weaving by moistening it to that extent. I

. ALBERT BODMER. 

